SEC Country invokes a numbers-based look at the 20 Greatest SEC Teams Not To Win The National Championship Since 1970 — a listing which researches 46 college football campaigns (1970-2015) and factors in overall record, per-game point differential, final Associated Press ranking, blowout victories (15 points or more), top-10 victories, top-5 defeats, bad losses (if applicable) and bowl results … along with any other bits of extra credit that may vault teams into the countdown.

For the sake of uniformity, here are two caveats:

a) We’re only citing the Associated Press poll results from each of the last 46 seasons.

b) We’re also capping the number of program inclusions at five … otherwise, Alabama would have owned at least four more countdown slots.

Simply put, we’re extracting the emotion from a countdown that will surely elicit a few choice responses on the “comments” section. Especially among the SEC fans who are protective of certain eras of the college game — the low-scoring 1970s, the transition-heavy 1980s, the Steve Spurrier-influenced 1990s or this century’s monumental tenures of head coaches Urban Meyer, Les Miles and Nick Saban (five national titles since 2003).

OVERVIEW

Peyton Manning capped his Hall of Fame-worthy collegiate career on a relatively strong note, passing for 3,819 yards and 36 touchdowns in 1997 — both personal highs.

We use the term relatively for three reasons:

a) Manning never defeated Florida in college, Tennessee’s most loathsome rival during that era.

b) Michigan’s Charles Woodson eclipsed Manning for the 1997 Heisman Trophy, one of the prestigious award’s biggest upsets in recent years.

c) Tennessee got rocked by Nebraska in the Orange Bowl — which helped propel the Cornhuskers (and retiring head coach Tom Osborne) into a co-national championship with Michigan. Note: The BCS system of determining a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown didn’t debut until the following season.

OVERVIEW

1. This countdown could have easily sided with the 1989 squads for Auburn (10-2) or Alabama (10-2) — which joined Tennessee as SEC co-champions (just seven conference games back then). But since we’re capping the number of school entries at five (sorry, Crimson Tide fans) … we’ll ride the Volunteers, on the strength of their head-to-head victory over Auburn.

2. Tennessee has produced a slew of great quarterbacks in the last 40 years; but the 1989 campaign was more of a game-management assignment for QB Andy Kelly, who netted minimal tallies of 1,299 yards passing and seven touchdowns. To be fair, the sophomore attempted only 156 passes that season; and his numbers would improve in 1990 (2,241 yards passing, 14 TDs) and 1991 (2,759 yards passing, 15 TDs).

The only legacy wart: Kelly tossed more career interceptions (38) than touchdowns (36).

3. The Volunteers lost the Sugar Bowl tiebreaker to Alabama. They would subsequently take their anger out on Arkansas — which cruised to the Southwest Conference title, before falling in the Cotton Bowl.

4. Tennessee had a great 1-2 rushing punch that season, with Chuck Webb (1,236 rushing yards, 12 TDs) and Reggie Cobb accounting for nearly 2,000 total yards and 18 touchdowns.

SPECIAL MENTION — 1977 KENTUCKY

OVERVIEW

1. For one amazing season in this countdown, Alabama AND Kentucky were the biggest, baddest dogs on the SEC block — going 13-0 overall in conference action. (The Crimson Tide had seven league games … but the Wildcats only had six. Not sure why.)

2. Given the above info … obviously, Kentucky and Alabama didn’t meet for conference supremacy in 1977. For the postseason, the Crimson Tide thumped Ohio State by 29 in the Sugar Bowl, while the Wildcats were banned from any New Year’s glory, due to NCAA probation.

3. Kentucky had the nation’s fifth-best scoring defense that year, allowing just 10.1 points per game. In fact, the Wildcats didn’t surrender more than 21 points at any time — including the landmark upset of Penn State (the Nittany Lions’ only defeat).

4. How memorable were the ’77 Wildcats? Upon telling an older friend about this countdown project, he remembered how Kentucky only lost to Baylor that season. And keep in mind … my friend (born in New York, raised in Michigan) had zero childhood ties to SEC football.

OVERVIEW

1. There is much to celebrate here: Signature victories over Clemson, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Auburn and Georgia Tech, along with decisive wins over Arkansas (SEC title game) and Florida State (Sugar Bowl) to close the season.

But history may also be a tad unkind to the 2002 Bulldogs for their comparatively bad loss to Florida that November — falling to an unranked Gators squad … with an inexperienced head coach (Ron Zook). Ugh!

2. The Florida loss ostensibly took UGA out of the running for the BCS National Championship, with undefeated Ohio State denying Miami (Fla.) of back-to-back titles.

OVERVIEW

1. During that 1980s age of 11 regular-season games, plus the bowls, all three of Tennessee’s non-victories occurred against elite programs (loss to Florida, ties to UCLA, Georgia Tech). Throw in wins over Auburn and Alabama … and that action covered just the first half of the Volunteers’ daunting schedule.

2. The seminal effort was saved for last, though, as Tennessee trounced No. 2-ranked Miami (Fla.) by a stunning 35-7 score. We’re talking about the same Hurricanes who knocked off top-10 powers Oklahoma and Florida State in the final weeks of the regular season … only to crash and burn against the Vols.

3. This likely marked the first juggernaut team of the Johnny Majors tenure — in Year 9 of his Knoxville stay. For its final eight games, Tennessee didn’t allow more than 14 points to an opponent; and during that span, the Volunteers posted three shutouts.

4. Using today’s overtime rules, if Tennessee had been able to convert the UCLA/Georgia Tech ties into victories … the Volunteers might have been competing with Penn State and Oklahoma for the national championship. They were thisclose to legacy-enhancing glory.

OVERVIEW

1. UGA captured the national championship in 1980; but on paper, the ’82 Bulldogs might have been slightly better. Especially after Herschel Walker, as a junior and budding Heisman favorite, fully rebounded from a preseason thumb injury.

a) The 1980 squad only defeated four teams which finished with winning records. The 1982 club handled six teams with winning marks.

b) The 1980 squad notched six double-digit victories, whereas the ’82 Bulldogs went one step further in that realm.

c) Come bowl time, Penn State was a legitimate national-title contender in 1982; but two years prior, Notre Dame was miscast into the same role … despite a December loss to Southern California and an inexplicable tie against Georgia Tech — which finished 1-9-1 that year.

2. Walker claimed the Heisman Trophy in 1982, his final collegiate season (left early for the United States Football League), racking up 1,752 rushing yards (1,841 total) and 17 touchdowns.

OVERVIEW

1. The 1993 Gators would have been interesting title considerations … if they had split their gut-wrenching losses to undefeated Auburn (11-0) and Florida State (the eventual national champion).

2. Under the guidance of Steve Spurrier, Florida finished third nationally in scoring offense, rolling for 39.5 points per game. Of equal importance, citing their nine conference outings (including the SEC championship), the Gators notched 28 or more points eight times.

3. West Virginia was actually ranked five slots higher than Florida entering the Sugar Bowl. But that was of no consequence to the Gators … who steamrolled the Mountaineers by 34. It would serve as WVU’s only defeat.

17 — 1993 AUBURN

OVERVIEW

1. Counting Auburn’s 11 victories in 1993, only Florida (11-2) and Alabama (9-3-1) finished with winning records. It somewhat dilutes the coolness of remaining perfect for an entire season.

2. This might have marked Terry Bowden’s high point of his Auburn tenure. He would accumulate 35 wins from 1994-97 … but it wasn’t enough extra capital to prevent his early-season ouster in 1998 — when the Tigers started 1-5. (Bowden was fired after six games.)

3. Auburn wasn’t allowed to partake in the SEC title game (versus Florida) or participate in a bowl. If that hadn’t been the case, Auburn likely wouldn’t have had enough juice to overtake Florida State or Nebraska in the final AP ballot — especially since the Seminoles and Cornhuskers squared off in the Orange Bowl (de facto title game — FSU prevailed).

OVERVIEW

1. One could argue the 2006 Tigers were better than the national-title-winning squad the following season. For the ’06 campaign, LSU posted eight double-digit victories and incurred two gut-wrenching defeats to superpowers Auburn (11-2) and Florida (13-1) — the official BCS champion.

In 2007, the Tigers posted narrow losses to Kentucky and Arkansas — a pair of good, but hardly dominant eight-win clubs. And yet, they somehow went home with the big trophy in January.

OVERVIEW

1. The UGA offense was cranking on all cylinders in 2007, rolling for 30-plus points against Oklahoma State, Auburn, Florida, Georgia Tech and Hawaii.

2. That season also marked the only time quarterback Matthew Stafford (2,523 yards passing, 21 total TDs as a sophomore) notched a victory over rival Florida — and by extension, Gators QB Tim Tebow (the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner).

3. On one hand, it’s great that UGA had little difficulty in producing a Sugar Bowl victory, along with the No. 2 national ranking by season’s end. On the flip side, the Bulldogs weren’t adequately challenged by Hawaii … and a stronger opponent might have better prepared the team for the following season — which began with No. 1 expectations.

4. UGA registered nine double-digit victories during the ’07 season; but it’s still hard to erase the stench of the bad home loss to South Carolina — just one week after demolishing an ascending Oklahoma State team (featuring future All-Pro Dez Bryant).

OVERVIEW

1. Alabama led the nation in scoring defense (allowing a measly 8.2 points per game); and that includes surrendering 35 to Ole Miss in the SEC opener. The Tide held the opposition to single-digit scoring eight times — including No. 6 Baylor in the Cotton Bowl.

2. The Crimson Tide, who captured back-to-back national titles in 1978 and ’79, carried a 28-game winning streak well into the 1980 season. That run of fortune lasted until November, when Alabama fell to Mississippi State (also part of this countdown).

3. This stands as Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant’s last amazing team in Tuscaloosa. Alabama would go 9-2-1 in 1981 and 8-4 in 1982 prior to the iconic coach’s retirement … but the 1980 squad had the lingering aura of invincibility — even after the Mississippi State shocker.

4. Let the record show: UGA and Alabama didn’t play each other from 1978-83, meaning legendary tailback Herschel Walker — arguably the greatest runner in SEC history — never faced the Crimson Tide in his three-year career. It would have been great to see the schools square off in 1980, especially with a national championship on the line.

OVERVIEW

1. We’re presuming UGA would have captured the BCS national title for this season (beating Notre Dame in Miami), if it had knocked off Alabama in the SEC championship. Instead, the Bulldogs — who squandered an 11-point lead in the third quarter and finished 10 yards short of upending the eventual-champion Crimson Tide — settled for a Capital One Bowl victory over Nebraska.

2. The Dawgs’ two losses occurred against Alabama and South Carolina (24 combined victories).

3. UGA tailback Todd Gurley had a freshman campaign on par with Herschel Walker, rolling for 1,502 total yards (1,385 rushing) and 17 touchdowns; and more damage would have been inflicted that season … if Gurley hadn’t shared the touches with Keith Marshall (850 total yards, nine TDs).

OVERVIEW

1. We couldn’t have a countdown of this magnitude without chronicling one of Nick Saban’s rare failures, when positioned for a national title.

After absorbing an early loss to Ole Miss, Alabama rallied for eight consecutive wins, including a victory over Missouri for the SEC championship. At that point, the Crimson Tide were fortunate enough to garner the No. 1 seed for the inaugural College Football Playoff.

But the euphoria was short-lived, as Alabama blew an early 21-6 lead, before eventually falling to Ohio State in the semifinal round. A week later, the Buckeyes would topple Oregon to claim the first-ever CFP championship.

2. How’s this for a sign of the times? Alabama surrendered 40-plus points twice in its final three games; and yet, the Crimson Tide still finished sixth nationally in scoring defense (18.4 points per outing).

OVERVIEW

1. Tennessee’s defense really buckled down after the Auburn loss in late September. For their final 10 games — including the Sugar Bowl rout of Air Force — the Volunteers yielded a super-low tally of 7.7 points per outing.

2. For this countdown, the Vols are among that rare group of teams to post eight wins of 15-plus points and a per-game point differential exceeding 20 points. That has to be worth something big here … even though the college game has undergone dramatic change over the last 45 years.

OVERVIEW

1. Florida’s losses to Auburn and Tennessee came at a grand total of five points. That’s a bitter pill to swallow for Gators fans who coveted a national championship in Steve Spurrier’s final season with the program.

It’s also worth noting: The Volunteers enjoyed a so-called scheduling break in their road tussle with the Gators — a high-stakes clash which was moved from mid-September (hot and humid) to early December (pleasant playing conditions), due to the events of 9/11.

3. Anyone could have predicted Florida’s Orange Bowl dissection of Maryland. Yes, the Terrapins arrived to south Florida with a 10-1 record and top-6 ranking … but they also couldn’t stay within 20 points of a so-so Florida State team during the regular season.

Subsequently, the Terps were served up to be cannon fodder against the Gators.

After the Orange Bowl shakedown, Spurrier left the college ranks and signed a landmark $25 million deal with the NFL’s Washington Redskins. But Spurrier wouldn’t last the full five years in the nation’s capital. He would be jump back to the college game (South Carolina) before the 2005 season.

9 — 2013 AUBURN

Record: 12-2Final AP ranking: 2Per-Game Point Differential: +14.8Wins Of 15 Points Or More: 6Top-10 Victories: 3Top-5 Defeats: 1Losses to Teams With Seven Or Fewer Wins: 0Bowl Result: Lost to Florida State in the BCS title game

OVERVIEW

In 2012 (Gene Chizik’s final season), the Tigers went 0-8 in conference action. The following season, Auburn claimed the SEC West title — on the strength of back-to-back miracle victories against UGA (fourth-down Hail Mary) and top-ranked Alabama (the infamous ‘Kick Six’ — above).

2. In the BCS title game, Auburn jumped out to a 21-3 lead against Florida State … but incurred heartbreak in the final seconds, when Jameis Winston’s touchdown pass to receiver Kelvin Benjamin clinched the Seminoles’ first national championship under head coach Jimbo Fisher.

3. Here’s something lost in the hysteria of beating Alabama and UGA: Auburn might have pulled off the SEC’s biggest road upset of the season, tripping Texas A&M during Johnny Manziel’s swan song with the Aggies. Plus, there’s the crazy victory over Tennessee … when the Tigers rushed for 444 yards on the Volunteers.

OVERVIEW

1. Give Alabama credit for taking on all comers outside the conference. The 1977 Crimson Tide were willing to schedule a pair of road outings against Nebraska and Southern California — which would have qualified as ‘career suicide’ for the vast majority of college coaches.

Instead, Bear Bryant’s team took that challenge in stride and ultimately split the non-conference roadies, as a prelude for another perfect run through the SEC schedule. That said, it’s worth noting Alabama and Kentucky both went undefeated that season … but the two clubs never met on the field.

2. In its final seven games — including a 35-6 demolition of Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl — the stingy Alabama defense allowed a grand total of 53 points — for a per-game average of 7.6.

3. This glorious season set the stage for the Crimson Tide claiming back-to-back national titles in 1978 and 1979.

OVERVIEW

1. Thirty-two years have elapsed since Auburn got rooked out of winning the Associated Press national championship.

Yes, Miami (Fla.) warrants props for knocking off No. 1 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. But in this age of college football before the advent of overtime, the Cornhuskers could have easily attempted an extra point in the final seconds — clinching a 31-all tie and preserving their standing as national champs.

Instead, head coach Tom Osborne opted for the game-winning two-point conversion … which failed. And with that historical decision, No. 4 Miami (playing a bowl game in its own stadium) was able to leapfrog No. 3 Auburn (which defeated Michigan in the Sugar Bowl) in the final poll.

2. Here are two reasons why Auburn got hosed from this ordeal:

a) In the land of common opponents, Florida hammered Miami by 25 in the season opener. Eight weeks later, the Gators fell to Auburn by a touchdown.

b) Florida (Miami’s lone defeat) had a 9-2-1 record for the season; and Texas (Auburn’s only loss) carried an 11-0 mark into the postseason … only to fall to UGA in the Cotton Bowl.

OVERVIEW

1. The Gators claimed double-digit victories for all 12 wins — a feat that could not be replicated on this countdown.

2. Florida’s defense was similarly stellar during the regular season, holding the opposition to 24 points or less 10 times.

3. Now for the Debby Downer news: The Gators’ Fiesta Bowl defeat — a 62-24 drubbing at the hands of two-time national champion Nebraska — was so eminently forgettable … it may have marred an otherwise brilliant season.

OVERVIEW

1. The 1975 Crimson Tide enjoyed the best of both worlds, ranking sixth nationally in offensive scoring (31.2 points) and first in points allowed (6.0 per game).

In fact, after its season-opening loss to No. 5 Missouri, Alabama didn’t surrender more than 10 points for its final 11 games — all victories.

2. It’s amazing pro-style quarterbacks even played at SEC schools during the 1970s. For the ’75 campaign, Richard Todd — a first-round pick with the New York Jets the following season (No. 6 overall) — registered only seven touchdown passes (16 combined) for his senior campaign.

What’s more, the four Alabama quarterbacks in 1975 attempted only 138 passes for the season.

3. In fairness to the above mini-rant, the Crimson Tide were always playing from ahead that year, especially after the Mizzou loss. The closest final spread entailed Penn State’s seven-point defeat in the Sugar Bowl.

OVERVIEW

1. In any other year, the Gators would have been the odds-on favorite for a national championship. The only drawback: They couldn’t avoid the Alabama buzzsaw in the SEC title game, resulting in an anti-climactic showing in the Sugar Bowl — which served as quarterback Tim Tebow’s collegiate swan song (the final tally: one Heisman, two national titles).

2. Florida’s defense allowed a grand total of 121 points in its first 12 games — for a low, low average of 10.1 per outing.

3. In today’s College Football Playoff world, the Gators might have garnered an invite to the national semifinals, prompting a possible rematch with Alabama.

3 — 2011 LSU

Record: 13-1Final AP ranking: 2Per-Game Point Differential: +24.4Wins Of 15 Points Or More: 10Top-10 Victories: 3Top-5 Defeats: 1Losses to Teams With Seven Or Fewer Wins: 0Bowl Result: Blanked by Alabama in the BCS title game

OVERVIEW

1. This one’s easy to celebrate: LSU’s 2011 squad did everything in its power to claim the national championship — sweeping through the SEC regular season, outlasting elite-level non-conference foes (Oregon, West Virginia) and taking down vaunted Alabama during league play … in Tuscaloosa.

But rankings luck wasn’t completely on the Tigers’ side, as they eventually drew a rematch with the Crimson Tide in the BCS title game … and subsequently lost 21-0 in the finale.

3. For this countdown, few programs can match LSU’s combination of per-game point differential (24.4), wins of 15 points or more (10) or top-10 victories (three). Not a bad bit of dominance for an offense without a single 1,000-yard rusher or wide receiver.

OVERVIEW

1. The 1973 squad seemed destined for a national title all the way through December, posting 11 straight double-digit victories during the regular season. And during that span, only Tennessee managed to score 20-plus points on Alabama’s defense.

2. Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant had difficulty beating Notre Dame during the 1970s and early 80s. The Irish would crush the Crimson Tide’s national-title dreams in 1973, 1974 … and 1980.

3. Of the SEC teams in this countdown, only the 1973 Crimson Tide and 2001 Florida Gators boast a per-game differential of 30-plus points. Alabama also gets the slight nod over the 2011 LSU squad — due to a more competitive setback in the national title game.

OVERVIEW

1. This undoubtedly ranks as the most frustrating season in Auburn history, with the Tigers breezing through SEC/non-conference action with only one tangible scare — a 10-9 victory over LSU — but still missing out on the BCS title game … and a championship clash with Southern California, the college-football version of the 800-pound gorilla back then.

That honor went to Oklahoma, which went 12-0 during the regular season (including the Big 12 championship) … before getting hammered by the star-laden Trojans in the Orange Bowl, 55-19.

2. In a parallel universe, it would have been awesome to see Auburn match wits with Southern California. But here on Earth … the Tigers had to settle for a somewhat deflating Sugar Bowl win (over Virginia Tech) and a No. 2 national ranking to close the season.

3. Carnell “Cadillac” Williams and Ronnie Brown accounted for 2,543 total yards and 22 TDs in the 2004 campaign. The following spring, both Williams (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Brown (Miami Dolphins) became top-five picks in the NFL draft.